Crisis without End

Victor Umeh

Fresh crisis hits the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), leaving observers to ponder over the party’s future
By Chidiebere Onyemaizu
It appears the All Progresive Grand Alliance, (APGA) is synonymous with crisis. When every one thought the Supreme Court ruling which last year upheld the expulsion of Chekwas Okorie, APGA’s founding national chairman from the party has largely thawed its debilitating leadership crisis, snippets from the party indicate another round of leadership tussle.
The new battle frontier in APGA means that the party now parades three formidable factions. Though the Supreme Court has since sanctioned Okorie’s expulsion by the Victor Umeh led APGA, the former has not given up the fight. He is back to court to reclaim his baby, APGA. In fairness to Okorie, he virtually single handedly formed the party. But his critics say he sees APGA as a fiefdom hence a section of the party’s constitution expressly recognized him as founder and chairman. APGA is the only party with such personalised item in its constitution.
Okorie admitted the APGA constitution has his name there as chairman but he told The Source that there was nothing wrong with that since he was not meant to be a life chairman.
The newest APGA faction is led by Onwuka Ukwa. The dissident, APGA members under the aegies of “National Stakeholders,” in a news conference in Abuja on August 23 2011 announced the sack of the Umeh led national executive and its replacement with an Interim National Executive committee.
Okorie was alleged to be behind the rebellion against Umeh but the founding APGA chairman told The Source he had nothing to do with the disquiet in Umeh’s camp. “In the first place, I never ceased to be APGA’s national chairman because there is no court judgement existing anywhere in the world which refers Umeh as APGA chairman. Also I never accepted Umeh as chairman, why should I now plan to remove him from an office he is illegally occupying,” Okorie asserted.
The curious thing about the renewed discord in the party is that one of Anambra state Governor, Peter Obi’s aide, Sylvester Nwobu-Alor is one of the eggheads of the anti-Umeh movement. Governor Obi belongs to the Umeh led APGA and both are from Agulu, in Anambra state.
The presence of Obi’s aide among the anti-Umeh group has fuelled speculations that governor Obi, APGA first governor and the newest, governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state may have dumped Umeh after their efforts to convince him of the need for total reconciliation in the party failed. Okorie also believes so. As far as he is concerned, the crisis in Umeh’s APGA is the fall out of the strain in relationship between Governor Obi and Umeh. Okorie’s words: “ whatever Nwobu-Alor is saying it is Obi saying it. Nwobu-Alor is not just an ordinary aide to Obi; he is Obi’s uncle.”
Efforts to get Obi and Umeh’s camp to react to the issue failed. Text messages and calls to Valentine Obienyem, Governor Obi’s Special Assistant on Media over the matter were not replied.
APGA leaders in the South east have however risen in support of Umeh. Rising from their meeting in Enugu last month, the party chieftains said Umeh remained APGA national chairman as his leadership of the party at all levels is, in their words “is intact, firm and cohesive.” Their resolution reads: “The South east zone of APGA here-by dissociates itself from activities of the group led by Chief Onwuka Ukwa. The purported dissolution of the National Working Committee of APGA and other APGA structures nationwide by the self-styled stakeholders is laughable as there is no such thing authorised by the APGA constitution.” The Southeast APGA leaders described the anti-Umeh elements as people long expelled from the party.
Describing Umeh as a former factional Treasurer of Emeka’s Offor’s faction of the PDP in Anambra, Okorie claimed his faction of APGA has since expelled the former, governor Obi and APGA’s National Secretary Alhaji Abdullahi Shinkafi from the party. “In 2010, a court validated the convention that expelled them but Philip Umeadi sat on the judgement, refusing to let Jega know about the judgement, Okorie told The Source.”
A party that stormed the political scene in 2003 and virtually swept the South east, intractable crisis has reduced APGA to a shadow of its old self. Its victory in Imo in the April polls analysts posit, was not necessarily because the party was strong and popular in the state but because its flag bearer, Okorocha was a strong candidate and enjoys popular support in the state. What become of the party ahead the 2015 polls, remains to be seen.